At the behest of leading U.S. Jewish groups, Congress is set to free Russia from the Jackson-Vanik restrictions, the Soviet-era law aimed at exerting pressure on Russia to loosen its emigration restrictions.

But that doesn't mean the Putin administration is off the hook for human rights abuses. Jewish groups are championing a new measure that imposes sanctions on Russians suspected of involvement with extrajudicial killings and torture...signing the June letter in addition to NCSJ (formerly known as the National Council on Soviet Jewry) were the American Israel Public Affairs Committee; the Anti-Defamation League; the American Jewish Committee; the Anti-Defamation League; the Jewish Federations of North America; B’nai B’rith International; the Jewish Council for Public Affairs; and the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations...more.